What advantage does B&M have to your NL game?

ok, bear with me as everyone has 1000 answers to this question... Some yell "tells", which by the way, is WAY over rated in today's day and age. Some yell, "more information" which is of course the same bloody thing. So, just to clear this up once and for all...

Here are the TWO big advantages to playing NLHE in a card room:

1. The game slows down. Players HATE this, which makes it doubly good. They make fast decisions when they dont need to. You have more time to make mental (or paper) notes on players and their play. Its easier to remember the action of the past as you have faces and actions to associate with them. etc, etc. Plus, there are alot of distractions for players to wade through.

AND

2. You DONT see your hole cards.

"what?!?!?" You say. "so?!?!" you say? Listen up. The great Phil Ivey is not stupid.

When you are playing in a card room, you could play some hands without looking at your hand. You are situational. Watch Phil survey the action and decide his possible moves, then look at his cards. He does it everytime. Heck, try playing your BB without looking at your cards. (I did this last week). You will be surprised at what happens. You have to watch the flow of the betting and strength very carefully.

Contrast this with online where you look at your cards FIRST. FIRST. are you kidding me? This is why there are so many fish online. Because the sites TRAIN them that way. Look at your cards, check the box for your action before it gets to you. Keep it moving. BAH! Want to practice REAL cards, cover your hole cards with a sticky note. Decide what you could play, then peek. Or dont.

Think Phil Hellmuth can put you on AK vs AQ because he's psychic. Because he can look into your soul? Because you have this tell that only Phil can see? It's all bunk. Phil can replay the hand in his head and tell what you you probably have. Then his raise or laydown becomes easy. Why does Phil lose it sometimes? Because he can be right and still lose. No one likes that. BUT, as someone trying to improve at poker, and this is hard but listen... YOU WOULD RATHER BE RIGHT THAN WIN THE HAND. If this is not true, then you need to go look in the mirror.

On a final note, Mrs. Columbo is TEARING up the micro tables at party poker. She is relentless in her pursuit of being a player. She is now playing about 30 hours a week (more like 45).